First time hatching quail, setting/turning question?

[dianneS]

I got 50 Texas A&M white and brown quail eggs today. They're fertile for hatching and my bator is fired up and ready to go. I don't have an egg turner. The eggs are currently in a quail egg carton/flat with the fat ends up.

Could I just set the whole carton in the bator and tip the bator each day so I don't have to open the lid? Or should I lay the eggs on their sides on the bottom of the incubator and tip the bator, or should I reach in and roll them daily?

Any and all hatching advice is welcome!

 

[feedman77]

Keep humidity 20 to 40 during incubation. Raise to 70 plus for hatch.

Any turning tipping method you described will work. Use which ever you feel comfortable with. If your going to use carton just put a thick book or 2x4 under one side of bator. Wait 6 to 8 hours remove then leave flat. Then 6 to 8 hours later put board under other side.

Good luck on your hatch.

 

[dianneS]

Awesome! Thanks so much!

 

[dianneS]

Should I remove them from the carton and lay them on their sides at lockdown? When is lockdown for quail eggs? Day 14?

 

[feedman77]

I hatch mine upright and have no issues.

Day 14 is good for lockdown

 

[RobPS]

Keep humidity 20 to 40 during incubation. Raise to 70 plus for hatch.

Any turning tipping method you described will work. Use which ever you feel comfortable with. If your going to use carton just put a thick book or 2x4 under one side of bator. Wait 6 to 8 hours remove then leave flat. Then 6 to 8 hours later put board under other side.

Good luck on your hatch.

Well now this is just genius! Tip the whole freakin' incubator and there you have it!

I'll be introducing my first quail to my coop this weekend. They are 5 weeks(ish) old now (all female) but I'm still contemplating the whole incubate my own eggs too. I'll have room for a few more birds. But wow... the cost of the incubators is pretty hard to swallow for a guy like me who has no plans of selling birds & will only keep up to maybe a dozen at a time, especially the ones with auto egg turners. I could turn the eggs in the AM before work, and again after work, and then once more before bed time, but there'd be more like 10 hours between that morning and after-work turn, so that's not gonna work I think.

 

[dianneS]

I'm using a little giant incubator, no auto turner that was only about $40 from tractor supply. I've hatched chickens and guineas in it pretty successfully and I know I've gone more than ten hours without turning the eggs and had no problems. Heck, I think I've skipped a whole day without turning probably more than once! I don't think those hens are always so diligent about turning their eggs regularly either